Arsonists yesterday attempted to burn down the Catholic church at Harryville in Ballymena, Co Antrim. It followed the second attack in weeks on an Orange hall at Ligoniel in north Belfast which destroyed the building.
Intruders entered the Church of Our Lady through a window early yesterday. They piled up furniture and other flammable contents around the altar and then set it alight. However, it is understood the blaze did not take hold.
There was only smoke and scorch damage. Three years ago the church was picketed by loyalists in protest at nationalist objections to an Orange parade in neighbouring Dunloy.
The Orange hall at Ligoniel had already been damaged in an attack earlier this month. After yesterday's attack it remains burned out.
The RUC yesterday said there had been 99 cases of criminal damage to houses in the first two weeks of July and 86 cases of criminal damage to other buildings.
A Sinn Fein MLA, Mr Gerry Kelly, condemned the attack on the Orange hall, which he said would achieve nothing. "I call on those who would damage property belonging to the Orange Order to desist from this activity immediately," he said.
The DUP described the attack as the latest in a "concerted and ongoing campaign" against the Orange Order. The party's local MLA, Mr Nigel Dodds, said: "This is nothing more than a blatant sectarian attack on the Orange Order, our heritage and culture."
The SDLP Minister, Mr Sean Farren, condemned the attack on the church at Harryville. "Attacks on church and community property are not just attacks on bricks and mortar but on the people who use the properties targeted. The community as a whole is moving towards a future of consensus and partnership and will remain on course despite such efforts," he said.
The Ulster Unionist Mayor of Ballymena, Mr James Currie, said the arsonists were "the destroyers and the destructive element in the local community. Every man, woman and child in Ballymena will suffer because our image has been tarnished again."
The Catholic Bishop of Down and Connor, Dr Patrick Walsh, visited the Church of Our Lady yesterday. "Over past weeks many houses, buildings and churches have suffered arson attacks," he said. "All such attacks are to be deplored. An attack on any church is particularly heinous. It is a sacrilege, for a church is a sacred place set aside for one purpose only, the worship of Almighty God."
The Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames, said he was appalled by the fire. "Attacks on any church or building associated with any tradition must be condemned," he said.
The Alliance Party's justice spokesman, Mr Stephen Farry, said attacks on churches and Orange halls were motivated by sectarian hatred and showed the need for hate crime laws to be introduced in the North.